Where We Begin
by Andramion
Summary: Sequel to "I Already Promised You After All", takes place during Hinata and Kageyama's college years with scenes from both their Karasuno lives and the AU setting where Hinata went to Shiratorizawa instead of Karasuno.
1. Chapter 1

NOTE: this fic is a **sequel** to "I already promised you after all" also up on my FFnet. The setting probably won't make any sense to you if you haven't read that first.

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><p><strong>[[Shiratorizawa]]<strong>

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><p>Hinata stands nailed to the ground, and though it is already the end of March, Hinata can feel the cold seeping into his winter coat. His mind doesn't seem to be working properly. If it was, he wouldn't be thinking things like <em>it's not supposed to be this cold <em>and _it's supposed to be a sunny spring day _and _wow, his chest really is rock hard._

He can't really get over it. He'd been looking forward to it so much: today, the day he arrived at uni early after moving into his tiny student dorm room. He had it planned out to the last detail: he would walk over to the gymnasium, introduce himself with a lively voice and get off on a good start with Kageyama.

He was not supposed to bump into him, make him spill his own coffee all over both Kageyama _and_ himself, and throw a hissy fit about it before realising who it is.

Definitely not that.

"It's your own stupid fault. Watch where you're walking." Kageyama glares at him before he averts his face, ruffling through his bag and pulling out a handkerchief to pat down his coat. He keeps mumbling as he does it and Hinata picks up things like "great" and "just my luck" and "fucking wonderful".

"I'm really sorry!" Hinata manages to get out, his hands fumbling at his bag's zipper, wanting to do _something_ to make this up, but his brain short-circuits.

Kageyama just grumbles. "What's up with the sudden apolo-" He falls silent when he looks up and his brows knit together even more, though the anger behind his features seems to dissipate a little. And for a moment, Hinata's heart speeds up, skips a beat, jumps around in his chest in a way he's sure he hasn't felt before – not in this lifetime at least.

Then Kageyama's face goes back to its regular grumpy look. "I'm in a hurry to get to class." With that, he steps past Hinata and starts walking away from him at a brisk pace.

Before he even realises what he's doing, Hinata turns around, reaches out and grabs at Kageyama's sleeve, though it's just a little too far for him to grasp the fabric between his fingers.

"Wait!" he calls out. He knows he's acting weird, knows that normally, if a random stranger let him off with just some grumbling and then walked away, Hinata would take it gladly and be on his way himself. But this is Kageyama, the person he's been longing to see for so long, the person he's been in love with for technically two years, but basically a lifetime and Hinata wants to turn back time and redo these past few minutes.

He'll take the next best thing. "Please let me apologise properly."

"I'm already late!" Kageyama calls back without even looking around. "Do it this afternoon!" Then he turns a corner and disappears behind a building, out of Hinata's sight.

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><p>All day long, Hinata mulls that last comment over in his head. What does it mean? <em>Do it this afternoon.<em> Does Kageyama remember too, maybe? Maybe he's hiding it, just like Hinata, thinking it would be crazy to just come out and say "hey, I remember you from past life and haha, yeah, we were kinda married back then so wanna hook up?". Hinata can't count the number of times he's thought that ridiculous scenario over in his head and decided against it immediately.

He makes a mess of his introduction during orientation, trips over his words and calls himself Hibata Shougo, which means he has to keep correcting it to every person he talks to after that. He can't remember any of the names of his classmates, doesn't talk much and doesn't smile much either. It's all just a blur, all of his mind now just focussed on that one name, one person and wondering where he is right now, wondering if he's thinking these same thoughts.

_If Tobio remembers…_ Hinata thinks it through, allows himself to daydream about this now that there's a chance of it being true. _We can pick up where we left off, we don't have to start over. I won't have to pretend I don't know him. I don't have to keep my distance. I can finally hug and kiss him again, be with him again._ He can feel his heart swelling at the mental image of it and a smile tugs at the corner of his mouth as he touches his fingertips to the bump the rings make under his shirt. He feels like taking them out and slipping his around his ring finger.

"Oh, finally, you're smiling." he hears someone sigh close to him and he turns his head to see who it was. There's a guy sitting next to him, dark bangs hanging across the side of his face, hair a bit longer than in the _memory_ Hinata has of him.

"Shibayama-kun!" Hinata exclaims, wondering how he could have forgotten the Nekoma libero would be there. His outburst was met with a gentle smile as Shibayama scratched the back of his neck.

"Oh, you remembered my name! I'm glad, Hibata-kun."

"Actually, it's Hinata," he immediately corrects and he grins now that he has someone to talk to. "Hinata Shouyou." He sticks his hand out and Shibayama shakes it without hesitation.

"Shibayama Yuuki, nice to meet you." Shibayama glances back at the front of the lecture hall, where the professor is still going on about their program for the first week. "I think we should pay attention," he says to Hinata and they grin at each other after Hinata agrees.

With Kageyama constantly swimming through his head, Hinata had almost forgotten that he had friends in his class _back then_. Of course he would make friends again. _I have to pay more attention to what's going on __**here**__, _he thinks to himself.

When the professor calls for a coffee break and people start filing out of the hall in search of vending machines with drinks, Hinata pulls his water bottle from his bag and sees Shibayama isn't moving from his chair.

Hinata is suddenly nervous. He hasn't done this before, hasn't tried to make friends with someone he was supposed to have already met, but hasn't. How much different is this Shibayama? What can he say and not say? He feels the urge to ask Shibayama if he knows how Kenma is, whether they got close to going to nationals when he was in his first year this time around too. Whether they'd been having practice matches with Karasuno. Whether or not they'd beaten Karasuno every set this time around.

Hinata twists the lid of his water bottle off and then back on again. He glances at Shibayama, who's drinking too. He takes in a deep breath.

"Hey, you're on the volleyball team here too right?"

Shibayama nearly chokes with the effort not to spray his mouthful of water over the row in front of him. After swallowing and coughing several times, he turns teary eyes on Hinata and Hinata already feels bad.

"I'm not. What made you think that?" The back of his hand is covering his mouth partly, since he's wiping his mouth, but Hinata can't pretend he didn't hear the second part of what Shibayama told him.

He tries to come up with something to say, something to explain his apparently completely out-of-whack question, but he comes up with a blank. _Shibayama was on the team with us, right?_ He searches his brain, the stack of weirdly _clear_ memories from that other life and Shibayama is right there, defending their backs like Noya did in high school.

_What's changed?_ Hinata thinks and he feels panic rise in his chest.

"I ah…" he starts, trying to at least keep a calm appearance. He laughs nervously. "I thought I saw you playing before, but ah, it must've not been you." _It was definitely you, I __**know**__ you, Shibayama._

"Oh, that could have been me. I played volleyball in high school, but decided I'm completely going to focus on my studies now I'm in university." He caps his bottle again and turns on his stool, angling his body towards Hinata. "But you said _too_, that means you got in without having to go to try outs, right? That's pretty amazing."

Hinata's eyes go wide at the compliment and he brings his hands up immediately, waving them in front of him frantically. "Eh? No no no, it's nothing that great, I was just… I got scouted because my team went to nationals."

"That's still pretty great, though." Shibayama's gaze shifts to the ceiling, but it doesn't look like he's actually looking at it. "My high school did too, ages before I ever went there, and we wanted to take our old coach to nationals." He sighs. "We never did though."

_So that's it._ _That_ Nekoma had gone to nationals during Hinata's second year of high school, striking out in the second round. This Nekoma hadn't. _Is that why Shibayama quit?_

"You guys were pretty good though, when I saw you," Hinata pokes the subject, trying to see how much information he can get before Shibayama starts feeling uncomfortable. "What was your school called again?"

"Nekoma. Nekoma High School." Shibayama smiles and puts his bottle down on the table, then brings his hands up. "They used to nickname us _the cats._" He wiggles his hands on top of his head, making cat ears with them.

"Ah! We were the…" Hinata's mood deflates when he realises he was about to tell Shibayama they were the crows. _You weren't this time,_ he has to remind himself. "We… didn't have a nickname." He remembers asking that back in his first year. He also remembers Ushijima overhearing and replying that their team doesn't need a nickname. That just the title of _the strongest_ would suffice.

"Well anyway, I think you should consider the try outs," Hinata pushes. He can't see the end of this pile of scrambled up puzzle pieces and he is anxious to have at least one of them in its place. "You were playing well when I saw you."

"Thank you," Shibayama says, looking a little embarrassed at the compliment, but his face falls after a few seconds. "Oh, but you're not from around here right?"

Hinata shakes his head, slightly confused at where the question suddenly comes from. "I'm from Miyagi. But what does that have to do with it?"

"It means you can't have seen me play, right? Cause we weren't in Nationals." Shibayama's bottle crackles when his fingers tighten their grip on it. "So it's probably not me that you saw."

_Oh shit, I didn't think of that._ Hinata searches his brain, tries to come up with a way to cover this, to make his actual history and the second one overlap. He's not sure what events would or wouldn't have happened, doesn't know what he can take as set in stone and what things will have changed.

"I have a cousin... who goes to Shinzen Private…" he tries, lying out of his ass but looking for some sign of recognition in Shibayama. He holds back a grin when he sees him perk up. "And I visited last summer and caught some of the volleyball teams' practice matches, during training camp I guess? You guys have this really tall guy on your team right? The rude one." He smushes his hair down with a part to the side, trying to imitate Lev's hairstyle, hoping Shibayama will get who he means, hoping that he will just believe what Hinata says, even if it is just for a bit.

"Yeah! Haiba! Oh wow, it was me then." Shibayama laughs and scratches his cheek, showing Hinata a small smile. "Thank you then. Ah, but I still don't think I should try out, with you there and all…"

It feels like being punched in the gut, that's what Hinata thinks. He thought he'd gotten to a good start with Shibayama, they weren't amazingly close in the _other_ life, but they got along well, right? _What if I've messed it all up now? What if he doesn't want to be friends this time around?_ He glances around and recognises two or three people he hung out with in an instant, but he doesn't want to lose even one of these potential friends. He turns back to Shibayama and lowers his head in apology.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend you!"

"Offend… Oh! No!" Hinata raises his head and sees Shibayama wave his hands around. "I meant, you were scouted, so you must be way better than me… so there's not really a need for another libero to try out, right?"

"Eh!" Hinata frowns and pouts. "I'm not a libero, though."

"I just assumed, because you're… well, about my height, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm tiny." Hinata sighs, letting the annoyance slip away from him. Then he faces Shibayama again and smiles. "But! I can jump! And there's going to be a setter here who's amazing!" He throws his arms up, nearly launching his bottle from his hands. "His tosses are all _GWAAAAN _and _WHOOSH! _Plus, I'm a middle blocker, so I could really use the help of a good libero for the back row! Libero are so cool! I get all _WOOOAH_ when a powerful serve comes right at me, but this libero I know, he's just all _SWISH_ and then-"

"Alright, everyone, we're going to start again!" Hinata's excited praise of Noya's play gets interrupted by the professor and both he and Shibayama quiet down and turn to sit straight behind their desks again.

When Hinata glances over at Shibayama, he sees him grinning at him while straightening his notebook. "You remind me of my teammate from high school, he used to talk like that too." He looks back up to the front of the lecture hall and picks up his pen, pressing the button down onto the paper before swishing it up into a writing position. "I'll give try-outs a thought, alright?"

Hinata nods and grabs his mechanical pencil. "Alright!"

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><p>The doors to the gymnasium are closed, trying to keep the lingering chill out as much as possible, so even though Hinata is trying, he can't see whether Kageyama is already inside.<p>

He got to the gymnasium a little early, he realised that when he saw there were only a couple of lockers in use in the changing room. But even though he wanted to scoop out the place before going in, he can't know whether one of those lockers holds Kageyama's clothes, can't be sure if those distinctive sneaker-on-linoleum squeaks inside are coming from Kageyama's shoes.

He puts his hand on the handle, breathing out slowly before wrapping his fingers all the way around the metal.

_This is it,_ he thinks. In a minute, he's going to see Kageyama again. In a minute, he's going to know whether Kageyama remembers him too. _Calm down, stupid heart._

A ball comes straight at his face when he slides the door open and his hands swing up just in time for him to catch it before it comes into contact with his nose.

"Sorry!" someone calls out and Hinata recognises him as someone who was one of the second string wing spikers. "You okay?"

"I'm fine!" he calls back, throwing the ball overhead and closing the door behind him. He doesn't hear the thanks he gets for returning it, because his eyes have already latched onto a different sight.

He is right there, right there. Concentrating on the ball in his hands, the distance of the other side of the court, the lines painted on the floor. _Getting ready for a serve,_ Hinata realises, because he recognises the set of Kageyama's shoulders, the way he already sets his foot back to prepare for his run-up even when he's thinking, watching.

He remembers a twenty-year-old Kageyama telling him how he likes to imagine people on the other side of the court, how he runs simulations of their movements, because he has the time to think that over during practice. He blushes when he also remembers that they were sitting in the bath together at the time, his back pressed against Kageyama's chest as he sat in between his knees, Kageyama pressing kisses along his neck in between every few words.

Kageyama twists the ball in his hands, stops it. Hinata watches as he throws the ball up and starts pushing his feet off the ground.

And then he feels the air rush around him, through his hair, as he runs over to the other side of the court, throwing his bag to the side of the court somewhere and folding his hands together as soon as he gets into position, thumbs on top and insides of his forearms turned towards the ceiling.

It's nowhere near Noya's silent receive, but Hinata knows it's a hell of a lot better than he could do in high school back in _that_ life.

The ball floats up, comes down with a nice curve, but further to the right than he would have wished. Still, two steps from the setter would have compensated for it and Hinata nods to himself with pride, biting his bottom lip to keep from grinning. _It feels so good to receive his serve too. I missed this so much._

When he straightens out, though, Hinata sees Kageyama looking so annoyed he's sure he's gonna pop a vein or two. _Well that's nothing new._

"I was trying to serve here!"

"I know! It was a nice one!" Hinata calls back, overjoyed at hearing Kageyama's voice again, even if it is angry. He walks over, picking up the ball in the process and tucking it under his arm. He sticks his hand out when he reaches him. "Nice to meet you, I'm Hinata Shouyou!"

He's so surprised to hear Kageyama say his name along with him that he forgets to let Kageyama's hand go until his is shaken off.

"I know," Kageyama adds and Hinata's chest is suddenly so full of something so bright and light and wonderful that he doesn't know how to react other than letting his face do whatever it wants to. Which is pulling the corners of his mouth up to his ears and beaming at Kageyama.

"Really?" he asks when he finds his voice. He wants to jump up onto Kageyama, hug him, kiss him, smooch his face all over, but they're in a public space and there are people here, so he holds it all in. He's been holding everything in for nearly two years now, he can manage a few minutes more.

_Can I just ask him to come outside with me? Or will the others think that's strange?_ He looks around. _Coach isn't here yet, so it should be fine right?_ He starts planning it all, thinking they can hug and make out behind the tool shed for a bit, knowing they'd be pretty hidden there.

"I make a habit out of knowing who the strong players in the prefecture are, Ace of Shiratorizawa."

Kageyama turns away from Hinata, grabs another ball from his right and gets into serving position again. "Don't interrupt me this time."

The loud smack of the serve hitting the court is what makes Hinata realise he's been staring at the wall behind where Kageyama had been standing and he turns around to see where the ball he had been holding has rolled to.

He doesn't know whether he is supposed to act like nothing happened or take a minute outside and scream, cry, do whatever it takes to clean this shattering feeling out of him. But he has his rule, his one rule that has gotten him through all these years and he can't just go and cry outside the gymnasium.

He crouches down to pick up the ball, but his hands still when his fingertips only just touch the leather. _Tonight,_ he thinks, _tonight I'll cry as much as I want to._ He bites his lip, forces the tears down. But another thought flits through his mind, _he doesn't remember,_ and in that moment he realises how stupid it was for him to get so carried away.

He stands up, keeps his back to Kageyama as he runs over to the other teammates and introduces himself to them.

He keeps himself busy jogging around that half of the gymnasium to warm up until the coach comes in and asks them to gather around. He keeps his eyes strictly on whoever is talking, away from Kageyama, because he knows his gaze will linger if he doesn't.

_It's just like with Shibayama,_ he tries to convince himself, _it's okay, I'll make things right. We can start off here. I should be happy I'll be able to spend so much time with him, he could have chosen a different university. I'm __**lucky**__, I'm lucky, I'm lucky. It doesn't feel like lucky._

He'd been looking forward to being allowed to let his eyes linger on him again.

_This is where we begin._

Now he just looks forward to his shower.


	2. Chapter 2

Note: From now on, the switches in "universe" will be indicated with either **[[Shiratorizawa]]** or **[[Karasuno]]**, the first one being the new life in which Hinata went to Shiratorizawa and Kageyama doesn't know him, the latter being their former life in which they went to Karasuno together.

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><p><strong>[[Karasuno]]<strong>

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><p>"Oh! And I want to get a wok! You know, one of those big ones?" Hinata moved his hands as if he could shape the pan out of air. "And socks! I need to buy more socks. It's weird that I only had five complete pairs right?" He rubbed his chin as he thought. "Do you think Natsu has been hiding the others?"<p>

"Can you calm down for a second?"

Hinata turned his head and looked up at Kageyama, eyes big and worried. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" After one quick glance at Hinata, Kageyama averted his eyes. "You're just annoyingly loud today!" He was starting to get irritated by it. It was nice for Hinata that he could be so excited about moving into his university dorm, but Kageyama couldn't even get through two minutes without his stomach flipping over.

"Are you feeling sick?"

He didn't know how Hinata could be so observant at times, when he was usually so oblivious. Kageyama shot Hinata a look and removed his hand from the front of his shirt. He hadn't even realised he'd been pressing it to his stomach.

"I'm fine," he mumbled, scanning the street in front of him. He knew he wasn't really being fair. Even though Hinata could be quite thick-headed, he'd always been sharp when it came to stuff like this, right? He'd caught Kageyama getting sick before he even noticed it himself several times over the past few years.

Still, it made Kageyama feel slightly better to bicker with him.

"No need to be so snappy." Hinata pouted as they walked on, or so Kageyama expected. He didn't look. He was sure it would make him want to reach out and grab his hand, drag him back to one of their rooms and stay inside, instead of going out to the shops.

It was all just stupid, all of it: the dorm, the streets, the crowds of people rushing through them, _all of it was ridiculously stupid_. Kageyama pulled his phone out and unlocked the screen to look at the map. The blinking green dot that indicated where they were told him it was only a little bit further.

They had to stop at an intersection, the pedestrian traffic light turning red just as they reached the street. Tobio started counting the seconds, but gave up after twenty, too distracted by the cars whizzing by, by the birds landing on top of the traffic light, by that one cyclist leaning their elbows on their handles, but mostly by the way Hinata kept his eyes trained on him and seemed to not blink at all.

Kageyama let out a breath when the crowd around him started moving and he could step forward. Hinata's hand brushed his and he knew it meant _something_, something like 'are you okay' or 'I am here for you', because Hinata knew he didn't really like holding hands in a crowd, or in public in general, but he couldn't bring himself to react to it.

Once they crossed the road, all they had to do was follow the street until the next left turn. The small shopping district, conveniently located next to the big road circling the campus, was currently overrun by new students. At least, Kageyama assumed most of them were new students, as a lot of seemed to be accompanied by parents.

_Parents._ His own mother's face flitted through his thoughts. _She's not home yet, right?_ The dark blue car the Kageyama family owned had pulled out of the parking lot in front of Hinata's dorm little over two hours ago. It was a four hour drive back home and that was without taking traffic into calculation. Still… _she's already two hours away. Home is four hours away._

The light touch of Hinata's hand on his elbow made him realise he'd been tugging the collar of his shirt away from his throat. His feet came to a halt next to Hinata.

"Hey, do we need to get you medicine?" Hinata pointed at the pharmacy on his right. "Or milk maybe? Dairy products will settle your stomach if you're feeling nauseated."

Kageyama huffed, pulling his collar away again. It was stupidly warm for late March. Warm and sunny and most of all _muggy_. "I said I'm fine already, stop worrying." _Really warm and sunny_. He felt his shirt dampen when he pressed the palm of his free hand against his stomach again. _Nauseatingly warm._

"You don't look _fine._ I think you need to take a minute, Kageyama."

"I'm fine, I'm fine." His gaze shifted to follow the girl in the yellow shirt that clicked her tongue at the two of them. _We're standing still in the middle of the street,_ Kageyama realised. _We should move, right?_ "I'm fine," he repeated, "I'm really okay."

The older woman that walked past them just then looked away as soon as she made eye contact with Kageyama. That guy pulled his girlfriend a little closer into his side. That girl let go of the purses she was looking at and stepped into the store. Was the air always this dense?

"I think you really aren't. Come on." Hinata pulled on his arm, his fingers closed around Kageyama's wrist, or at least as far as they reached around. "Come on, Kageyama. Kageyama? Tobio!"

"Huh?"

"Follow me here, okay?" Hinata led him to the next alley in between the shops, pushed him against the wall gently so he had something to lean against. "What's wrong with your shirt?" he asked, pointing at the way Kageyama was still pulling the collar wider and wider. "You're going to stretch it out like that."

"It's too tight." _Way too tight. It's already hard to breathe with the air like this._

"It's not too tight, I can see your chest when you let go of it, if anything, it's loose."

"It _is_ too tight!" Kageyama's eyes went wide when he felt his heartbeat pick up _more_ than it already had. He felt shaky, his head woozy like he hadn't had enough breakfast, like he'd gotten up too fast.

"Hey, stop doing that, this isn't funny." It took Kageyama a moment to make eye contact with Hinata, to figure out why he didn't need to look down but _up_ to do so. _Oh, I'm sitting on the ground. _The pitch of Hinata's voice was even higher than normal when he went on.

"Kageyama, you're starting to freak me out, what's going on?"

"I don't- I don't- don't know," he managed to say, but it came out weird, broken, his words chopped up into little pieces and he didn't know why. He watched that mop of bright hair come closer as Hinata crouched in front of him. His breaths came haltingly, stuttering. "I- I'm- sc- scared."

"You need to calm down."

"I don't know how!" He pulled at his collar again, tempted to just tug his whole shirt off, right there and then. "Hinata, I'm scared, I don't _know_ this place! I don't know how to live on my own! I don't know how to cook! Or clean! What if I poison all my food? What if I get sick? I'm gonna die if I get sick and then I can't play volleyball and I'll break our promise."

"Okay, okay, stop talking, Kageyama. Listen to me. Hey, hey, listen to me." Kageyama blinked twice and refocused on the amber eyes in front of him. He bit his lip to keep quiet, but he had to let go again quickly so he could open his mouth further. He needed more air. "Good, keep looking at me, okay? Okay. I would hug you to calm you down, but I think that might have the opposite effect right now." Hinata's eyelids lowered for a moment as he glanced at the way Kageyama was still pulling at his own shirt.

"We're going to breathe, alright? Just breathe with me slowly, try to match me." He watched Hinata's mouth, his hands as he waved to show Kageyama what he was doing. "In slowly, slowly, now hold your breath. Hold it. Hold it… aaaaand let go, slowly, slooooowly. And in again. Good. Count, alright? Hold your breath. Good. Five… six… let go, two, three, four, that's it, seven, eight and in again."

Hinata's hands were shockingly warm compared to his when he pried his fingers off the fabric of his shirt and pressed their palms together. "Just breathe, that's it, you're doing well. I'm right here. Just keep breathing."

_Stop talking dumbass, I can't count when you're talking. Six, seven…_

It took him another few minutes – or hours for all Kageyama remembered of it – to get his heart rate under control and to feel like what he breathed was actually air again and not syrup. Sometime during all this – he couldn't pinpoint when – Hinata had moved his hands to his face, fingertips under his ears. He wasn't pulling his head up, wasn't forcing him to look in any direction, but just running his thumbs over his cheeks in tiny circles.

"How are you?" He hadn't expected the question so soon. What was he even supposed to say? Now that he had calmed down a little, he could feel the blood rush to his cheeks. He hadn't meant to behave like that. _How embarrassing._

Instead of answering, he just nodded. Hinata could take that to mean whatever.

"I've got an idea. Are you okay to walk?" He nodded again. "Good, let's go to your dorm, alright?"

Kageyama frowned. True, he was a little glad to be on his way back, but hadn't Hinata planned on buying a lot of stuff at the shopping district today?

He let Hinata support his weight as he got up off the floor, his knees still a little wobbly and his trousers damp from the cool stone of the road. "Is it alright?" he asked, just to be sure, but Hinata was shaking his head as soon as he opened his mouth.

"Don't, it's fine, I'll buy stuff later. I have the rest of the weekend. Let's just get you to your dorm for now."

Kageyama _really_ didn't know how Hinata could be so observant at times when he was usually so oblivious, whether it was some kind of big brother instinct or just something of his own, something _Hinata, _but for now he could manage to just shake the thought be grateful for it.

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><p>Hinata's dorm room and his own were across the campus from each other: half an hour's walk – or a short bike ride away in Hinata's case. Kageyama had asked his parents if he could take his dad's old bike with him, but his mother didn't want him cycling in the busy Tokyo traffic.<p>

With the shopping district right in the middle, it didn't take them too long to make it back to the dorm. Kageyama fumbled for his keys, trying to remember which one was the front door, but he still had to try three times before he managed to get the right one.

Hinata looked around curiously with every step they took through the hallway, his mouth open in a small O. Kageyama was amazed at how well he kept the usual loud and excited 'whooooooooooh' in. Kageyama shared the ground floor with five other people. Though he had his own room, the door to their floor led straight into the living room and kitchen.

"Hey, are your housemates already here?" Hinata asked and Kageyama shook his head.

"I think they're arriving tonight or tomorrow." He felt another flare of nervousness tighten up his chest, but he pushed it away as he put the third key on his new keychain in the door to his own room. He left it in the lock as he swung the door open. "Well, this is it."

This time, Hinata did let out an excited squeal as he stepped into the room and looked around. "It's so biiiig! It's bigger than my room, right? And oooh, look at your window! You have such a deep windowsill!" He sat down on the bed, fingers bunched into the blanket and he threw a wide grin in Kageyama's direction. "This is so cool!"

Kageyama couldn't see what was so cool about the room. Apart from the bed, desk and wardrobe, all that was in the room was a suitcase and a stack of boxes. He hadn't unpacked anything yet. After dropping off all of his stuff, his mother had driven him to Hinata's dorm, where they'd gotten started on his stuff first. He'd grumbled at how Hinata had hardly gotten any unpacking done yet, even though he'd arrived in Tokyo a day before him.

The plan had been to do his room after they… after they went to the shopping district. _Right._

"Oh! That reminds me!" Hinata jumped up, grabbed Kageyama by the wrists and swung him around, then pushed him down on the bed. "You stay here! Take a nap, unpack stuff, I don't know. I'll be right back!" Before Kageyama managed to process it, Hinata had pressed their lips together and moved away again.

"I'm taking your keys!" He jingled them and waved from by the doorway. "See you in a bit!"

And gone he was, leaving Kageyama staring at his now closed bedroom door, at the ugly yellowing paint that was starting to come off the wood in the corners.

He definitely couldn't keep up with the way Hinata's mind worked.

* * *

><p>Something smelled good.<p>

Kageyama didn't realise he'd fallen asleep until he opened his eyes seemingly seconds after Hinata had left, but with the light streaming in through the window now being the unnatural glow of street lights and for some reason, with the dorm smelling good. He looked at the clock on his phone to see that several hours had passed since he and Hinata had entered his room.

After following his nose out of the bedroom, the sight that greeted him in the kitchen was that Hinata in an apron that reached down to his shins, humming along with the music softly drifting from the speakers of his phone as he half-danced in front of the stove, moving from one pan to the other to stir each dish on time.

He watched the light sway in Hinata's hips as he stepped from side to side, sometimes moving his arm out in a smooth movement, extending it in a wave and curling his fingers, tapping his fingertips against his thumb and the palm of his hand, all to the beat of the western music.

Kageyama didn't understand what the woman was singing at all and he guessed that was also the reason Hinata was humming instead of singing along. The music sounded old though. Actually, the whole scene could have come from one of those black-and-white movies, Kageyama thought.

Kageyama would play the tired husband, coming home after a long day of work to be greeted by a bright smile from his wife and the smell of dinner wafting from the table.

He could imagine it: Hinata waiting for him at the door, him dropping his bag to just wrap his arms around Hinata and kiss him silly. The whole idea filled him with a warm feeling and left him wondering if that constriction in his chest came from this idea of already having the rest of his life with Hinata planned out in his imagination, or whether it was just his heart swelling up so much it was threatening to make him explode with happiness.

"What are you making?" he eventually asked, his voice a little croaky from sleeping, and he could only watch as Hinata jumped up and bumped his head into one of the cabinets. He spun around quickly, his fingers pushed into that flurry of hair to rub at the painful spot.

"Kageyama! You can't just suddenly talk like that!" Hinata pouted and turned his phone over to switch the music off. "Make some noise when you come into the room," he mumbled as his fingers swiped over the touchscreen. "You scared the hell out of me."

Instead of apologising, Kageyama walked over to the stove. "What are you making? It smells good." Before he could grab a hold of the lid of one of the pans, Hinata's hand ducked under his and pressed the lid down.

"It's a surprise! So don't look."

"Eh? Why?"

"It just _is_ okay? Deal with it. Go do something else. Unpack or something. You were asleep when I came back so I didn't wake you, but you haven't really done any of that yet, right?" Hinata's expression smoothed out then, changed from the pouty annoyance Kageyama had gotten used to from seeing it way too often over the course of several years.

"So could you wait a bit longer?" Hinata asked him, his voice softer and less pitchy than before too. "I'll call you when it's done."

Kageyama grumbled and turned his head away from the sincere look in Hinata's eyes. He didn't want to admit it, especially not to Hinata - God forbid he ever brought it up - but he was weak against that wide-eyed puppy look Hinata would turn on him sometimes.

With a sigh he dropped his hand a little bit, laid it over Hinata's and squeezed softly before patting twice and returning it to his jeans pocket.

"Don't take too long, I'm hungry, dumbass."

* * *

><p>Half an hour later, Kageyama found himself sitting at the kitchen table, feeling like an idiot as he held his mouth open for Hinata to feed him a spoonful of whatever he had made for dinner. He had a pretty good idea of what it was, but something smelled a little different and he couldn't quite put his finger on it. In any case, the makeshift blindfold kept him from actually seeing what it was.<p>

"Okay, it should be cool enough now. Here it comes."

Kageyama felt a weight lift off his shoulders when the taste of pork curry hit his tongue. He tugged at the knot in the kitchen towel, but gave up on untying it and just pulled it over his head, not even thinking about how his hair was sticking up weirdly as he looked at the plate in front of him, filled to the brim with rice and curry.

"It tastes so good!" he remembered to tell Hinata before he grabbed the spoon Hinata had already set down, clapped his hands together quickly in gratitude and started scarfing his dinner down. Across from him, Hinata sat down and flashed him a smile before following his example.

"Why'd you make me pork curry, though?" Kageyama asked after he finished his plate and Hinata automatically stood up to get him another serving.

"Well…" Hinata scratched his cheek as he set the plate down in front of Kageyama again. "I just thought it might help."

Kageyama glanced at Hinata, his eyebrows furrowed to convey his confusion while his mouth was too busy working on another spoonful of curry.

"It's your favourite, right?" Hinata gave him a sheepish look and after finishing another mouthful, he explained further. "You were so nervous... about being here and I just… I thought it might help you feel a bit more at home. Settle in faster, so to say."

"Hinata…" He wasn't sure what to say, how to convey how much it meant to him that Hinata was thinking about him so much, was looking after him.

"I never thought you'd have a panic attack. Man, that was scary." Hinata's spoon halted halfway to his mouth. "That was really scary…"

"Sorry."

"It's not your fault. But I just… I don't want you to feel that way, you know? So I thought that if this could maybe help a tiny bit, then it's worth it right? Plus, our plans for today were cut short anyway and curry is way healthier than take-out."

Kageyama just hummed in response. Rather than resuming their dinner, he wanted to get up, walk around the table and just scoop Hinata up in his arms, hug him close to his chest and make sure he didn't _leave_ tonight, that he'd stay there, close to him, within reach, but he knew that the other three housemates could come in anytime between now and tomorrow evening and he wasn't sure Hinata would appreciate being outed towards strangers on their first day in Tokyo, before classes had even started.

So he waited until both their plates were back in the cabinet, washed and dried, until the left-overs were stored away in the fridge and the pans had been scrubbed and all that was left of the evening was walking Hinata home.

"Stay a little longer?" he asked Hinata, marvelling at the thought of how saying something like that still managed to make his cheeks tinge red. Hinata nodded.

"I was just about to ask if I could."

So they slipped back into Kageyama's bedroom, now a little more personal with two of the boxes unpacked, locked the door behind them just in case and lay down on the bed.

This was what Kageyama was familiar with: Hinata curled up against the wall, facing him with those big eyes and reaching out to tug him closer. Their knees bumping, legs tangling, arms curling around each other and a head of soft hair tucked under his chin, lips ghosting over his skin as Hinata turned his head and nuzzled into his chest. It made something in him unwind, untangle, undulate as the ocean storm of turmoil in him calmed down to a soft breeze caressing small, smooth waves.

"Hey, Tobio?" Hinata caught his attention and this time he didn't blush at the use of his first name. "I know it's scary. I miss my mum and dad and Natsu too, you know? I was in the bathroom the whole morning until you arrived."

Though he wanted to listen to what Hinata was saying, wanted to make sure not to miss anything because he sounded like he had really been thinking these words over, Kageyama couldn't help but mutter something about not wanting to know the details of that.

"I know, shut up, I'm trying to say something nice, idiot."

Kageyama huffed. "Go on."

"I just wanted to say that… you'll get used to things around here soon enough. It just takes a little time. Cleaning isn't that hard either and it's a student dorm, remember? The information said that a company comes once a week and cleans the common rooms of each floor, right?"

"Hmm, now that you mention it… I think I remember something like that."

"And…" Hinata took in a deep breath. Kageyama could feel the cool air move over his skin. "And if you don't know how to cook then I'll do it for you until you learn. You definitely won't poison it then. And if you get sick, I'll nurse you back to health and you won't break your promise to me, because I won't let you. We're going to go to that first training on Monday and we're going to take this team to the top, you hear me?"

Kageyama nodded, swallowed the lump in his throat.

"And if you get homesick, you just call me and I'll come to your dorm and we'll skype your family together. We can practice volleyball outside and when it gets too late, I'll stay the night if you want me to. Okay? I'm right here. Right here."

Kageyama hummed, moved so he could press his cheek to the top of Hinata's head, could pull him into a tighter embrace and plant kisses on his hair.

"Thank you," he whispered, feeling like his voice would break if he wasn't careful.

Hinata's hand patted his back. Then his fingers trailed up and down his spine and Kageyama shuddered under the light touch.

"Don't walk me home tonight," Hinata said, sighing lightly when Kageyama started to pull away and strengthening his hold on his chest. "Just change into your pyjamas and I'll stay with you until you sleep. It's not exactly _home_ but it'll help you stay calm right?"

Kageyama didn't agree with him after he'd pulled his PJs from one of the boxes and climbed into his bed, resting his head over Hinata's heartbeat as Hinata curled around his upper body, holding him close while he laid on the sheets. _It's precisely that. _

_Home._


End file.
